Besides the technical aspects and the users, the most important referee in the battle of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats are the Hollywood producers. It's up to them to choose which type of format will be used for launching the future movies.

And seeing that the DVD is no longer an appealing option compared to the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, the movie industry must make a choice. Some have already clarified their position, and it's quite obvious that Sony Studios is counting on Blu-Ray, and so does Disney, the two companies accounting for 39 percents of the DVD market.

HD-DVD has just a small advantage, its supporters, Warner, Universal and Paramount having a market share of 43%. The only ones left are the companies controlling the remaining 18% and which haven't yet joined any of the opposing groups

To roll out a title in both types of formats would generate production expenses that would practically cancel the profits obtained from a movie. The unified format solution would have been the ideal one for the movie studios, but after the latest developments of the talks between Sony and Toshiba and especially after Microsoft's announcement that the new Xbox 360 gaming console will offer HD-DVD support, a compromise is not likely to be attained.

Thus, the people from Hollywood are placed in the position of taking a decision likely to be vital for their future profits, especially for the ones which haven't decided yet on which format to choose. As for the ones which have already chosen to back either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, all that they can do now is wait and see whether they''e made the right decision or not.

Seeing that the HD-DVD players will probably be launched towards the end of the year, if Sony doesn't come up with a solid offer for Blu-Ray we might witness a grand finale in which the favorite looses the last battle.